Adidas eyes record sales on Euro 2012 shirts

German sports equipment firm Adidas said Thursday it was likely to score record sales this year due to the European football championships as fans defy the recession to snap up replica shirts.

Adidas boss Herbert Hainer told reporters that the firm was likely to book sales of more than 1.6 billion euros in football shirts alone this year, smashing the previous record set during the 2010 World Cup.

The firm’s total sales, including its Reebok and TaylorMade golf brands, amounted to 13 billion euros last year.

Even in crisis-wracked Spain, Adidas has sold nearly one million replica shirts of the Spanish team, one of the favourites to win the tournament, a result Hainer described as a “surprise.”

“We all know that the Spanish economy is not in the best situation,” he said.

In Germany, the other main favourite, the better economic position also appears to have translated into shirt sales. With more than one million sold, it is “the bestselling shirt in the history of the brand,” said Hainer.

Adidas is also supplying the ball for the championship and expects to break records in this segment as well, with around seven million likely to be sold.

Of the eight teams left in the competition before Thursday evening’s quarter-final, Adidas supplies three of the shirts (Germany, Spain, Greece), Nike two (Portugal and France), Puma two (Czech Republic and Italy) and Umbro sponsors England.

Hainer said he was hoping for a Spain-Germany final, as this would further boost replica shirt sales.